OLD TIRED OLD MILLARD

OLD TIRED OLD MILLARD
MILLI BEFORE HER RENOVATION!

Friday, October 28, 2011

BUMBAK'S QUOBBA & THE GASGOYNE

Our first weekend in Carnarvon
We decided to take a couple of little day trips,
to see the sights!
 First stop
 Bumbak's Plantation
(Love their Name!!)

We arrived just in time for the tour,
first stop was bananas!
This was interesting, as we learnt something new!
Why

Bananas are Bent
?????

Apparently Bananas are really straight when born and grow downwards!
As they begin to mature, they bend upward toward the light,
causing their tips to bend!!




Wallah......Bananah!


We also toured
Mango's & Grapes
Yummo
Two of my favorites
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Although the latter was not the variety I enjoy most,
 these were table grapes
not wine grapes!



 Another interesting fact we learnt was,
 that the plantations are allocated only so much water per year, the amount depends on the size of the plantation and if
they conserve water or not?
Their water supply comes from the biggest river in WA...
The Gasgoyne

This is a very strange river system
They call her here
 The Upside Down River


All her water lies beneath the sand, protected!
They pump the water up, this then supplies the township & the many
many plantations around Carnarvon!

I wonder what would happen when the rains come, flooding would
definitely be on the cards!
A bloke Mark was talking to said,
that when it does flood
 you can hear the water so loud & strong,
roaring down the banks!!!
Oh boy!...Hope you get warning is all i can say!!

Or we may be floating our van outta town!
Carnarvon supplies
 70% of Western Australia
with
fruit and veges!


After we finished our little tour
we headed into Bumbak's Shop
for a taste testing of their home made products!

Mmmmmmm!!!
Tooo Yumm!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next morn we decided to head up to
 Quobba  for the day,
 have a picnic lunch & do a spot of Fishing!
The trip from Carnarvon to Quobba
is about 75 kms, some dirt road!
A pleasant easy drive though!!

We arrived at the intersection and this fantastic,
very large,
 self explanatory sign greeted us!


We turned left & before we knew it we were at
Quobba Blow Hole!
Wow!!!
This is incredible
 So Rugged So Rough
&
 Sadly So Unforgiving!!

We eagerly jumped out the car and headed straight to the ocean,
we could not believe what we saw first,
these two foreigners, playing around the hole!
The waves are massive!!!
Seriously these blokes are mad or just plain dumb, or both!!!
This is how these kinda people loose their lives!!!
Thankfully that was not to be today!!!

Looks like Mark fell over while
he was holding the video camera.....Hahahaha!!!

There are plaques here telling of lives lost,
they also have life rings!
 These are a long way back from the ocean though,
i feel by the time you ran back to get one
it would be all over!!


We left there and headed about a km down the road
to the calmer waters of 
Point Quobba
Here is a lovely sandy beach & a coral filled lagoon!
As we drove around we passed many funny looking huts!
These dilapidated buildings,
are only for the male fishermen species.....
 I would say!
After our little drive around
Quobba Point we headed north for
Quobba Station!

WOW!!!
 What a magnificent stretch of coast line!
There is just something
 so special about
Western Australian Waters!
 We found a great little spot for our picnic lunch.

Mark then decided to pull out his rod & have a fish off the rocks!
This is so dangerous here!!!

They have these big steel hooks embedded in the ground!!
While you are fishing you can tie yourself up with a rope & attach it to the hook!
Just to be on the safe side
!!!!!!!!!!
Mark didn't use this!
Why i have no idea
????


As i stood in awe of this magic spot


All of a sudden before my eyes was a family of whales not very far out,
frolicking & playing!


Well that was pretty special
&
it keeps getting better
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my goodness!!!
Now please everyone do not faint but,
it looks like we have a fish!!!!
Yeeeha....
We do have a fish
and
 what a pretty little fish we do have!!





~~~~~~~~~~~

Time to leave our paradise & head for home!
Along the way we stopped off
for a look at the site where
The HMAS Sydney
came to rest after a battle with
German Ship
The Kormoran back in 1941


Mmmmmmm........
That's a bit suspect,
 why did the Germans not help our men
?????
I suppose with Hitler as their leader, i need not wonder any more!

Another site we spotted on our journey home was
 all these car rims sitting near the top of telegraph poles, they were on about every
5th pole along the 30 km stretch of road!


At first we thought the reason being because there are no trees around?
How nice of someone i thought, to put them up their for the birds to nest in!
Until..... Mark deflated that lovely idea of mine & realised
 that Council must of done it to stop the birds from nesting & ruining the wires!!

Awh......
Another fun few days we had ourselves!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This weekend
The Gasgoyne Dash is on,
 it's a dessert endurance motor race, with....
Quad bikes, custom built 4WD's, buggies & motor bikes, bringing to Carnarvon
people from all over Australia, eager to get out & get into it!!!!!
Let the Fun & Games Begin!!!
As Carnarvon comes alive!
(Well it use too!)

The 3day 300km race is held about 130 kms outta town.
Most people who watch it go out and camp for the long weekend!
(Queens B'day long weekend in WA)

 On the final day,
they finish it off by racing down the sandy
 Gasgoyne River Bed
all the way back into town!!! 
Sadly this year the river dash wont be happening!

Because.....
The Sandy Upside Down Gasgoyne
has water on top of her from the floods earlier this year!!!

Some of the competitors spent the night in our caravan park, here is one heading out early this morn!

Oh well!
We may not get to see it!
As i have to work and Mark

as you know is still laid up with his back!

                                          
Poor Husband & his newly fitted Brace!
Lucky his arms are OK!
Happy Hours remain the same......Happy!!!!!!


Till next time
ENJOY!!!!
  


Friday, October 21, 2011

UPDATE!!

We finally got news back from the hospital!
Good News
No Operation needed!!

 Bad News
Mark needs to be fitted with a back brace
for three months & no work!!!!

We have decided to stay put here in Carnarvon
for a while longer, seeing as there are limited funds coming in!
It is the best option till he recoups a bit!!!
We will then slowly
make our way back home.

Now i suggest he get the rods out and get himself out fishing,
cause i feel a month or so bed bound is definetly
 going to drive him batty!!!!
No i will rephrase that...........
Drive me Batty!!!!!!!!!!!!

Till next time
Cheers!



Saturday, October 15, 2011

CRACKING UP!

We arrived in
Carnarvon 
Both  Mark & I keen & eager to start working!!

This town is a funny sort of, definetly.....
Way behind the times town!!!!
It is full of plantations & supplies
70% of WA's fresh produce!!!
Well that is a bonus!
Yummmmmo!
I could not believe the shopping centre!
It is certainly in need of a makeover!!!!
Get this....
We have a Woolies, Rockmans, Paper Shop,
Chemist, & thats about it!!!
 That is the plaza!!!
Oh i forgot across the road is
A
Targe' Country!

Hahaha...Shazza wont be spending much of her
hard earned doe on clothes here!!!!!

I went into Rockmans, & got a start straight away!
I also started housekeeping at a motel here!
The owners own 2 motels and a caravan park in town,
they are lovely people & have given me a little Honda car to zip around in!
Also we are staying in their park at a discounted rate
 complete with our own en suite....
Ahhh nothing like having your own bathroom again!!!!

Mark started with a local builder,
We have now been here for about 3 weeks & all
 "WAS".....Looking good!

Until yesterday morning, when Mark rang to
tell me he had a fall @ work & needs to go to the hospital!
Oh no!!!

In the hospital they did Xrays, & tests!
Finally @ lunchtime, they sent him home with
panadene forte & told him to rest!

Well...... Thank heavens for that!
No major damage!

Then in the arvo while i was at Rocky's working,
Mark rang again to tell me
he has to go back to hospital to have a cat scan!
 He did & this time it revealed a crack in his lower spine!!!!
 We spent all night at the hospital, waiting on
Perth Hospitals instructions on what needs to be done???? 
Holy Dooley this is not good!!!!
Well this Morning we are still awaiting Perth's decision!
Worst case scenario will be an operation in Perth to fuse the bone together!

TBC!




Sunday, October 9, 2011

Yahooo! Ningaloo!

We decided to pass through Karratha & head the extra 20 klms to
Dampier....Home of
Red Dog, Salt Lakes
&
Rio Tinto!


The park we are staying at in Dampier is community run & is really cheap
@ $12 p/n
compared to the ones in Karratha that charge up to
$50 p/n!!!
 Plus the views across the bay were very pleasing to our eyes!!!!
The maximum stay is only 3 days though!
Suited us, seeing as today is Friday we thought we would enjoy the weekend, then on Monday hit the town in search of work & check out the Caravan parks!
Monday morn we did just that!
For me it was looking positive as Kmart wanted staff asap,
for Mark though not so good!
Oh well
tomorrow is another day!
We had our mail redirected to Karratha when we were back in Broome, so hopefully that will also be here tomorrow????
Tuesday Morning......
We booked out of Dampier & headed into Karratha.
 Mark made more enquiries on the work front,
still not looking good!!!!
While we were waiting for the post offices late mail deliveries,
 we stocked up on essentials.
Back in the van ( which was parked in the shopping centre car park)
I made lunch while mark checked the truck over!
Oh no!.......We have a problem!
The truck is down about a litre of oil!!
This is a common problem
with some of these 70 series land cruisers!
So it is off to Toyota we go!!!
All topped up again and we are good to go!
The guys told mark of the construction site across the road,
apparently they are looking for builders!!!


So over he went!!
I waited in the car, it seemed like he was in there forever!
Finally he surfaced....
Yep they want me to start tomorrow, the only problem is the wage
$30 p/h 6days a week!
Mmmmmm....We chewed it over & there are a lot of negatives here!
To rent a site approx $350 a week, plus it was starting to get really hot & would be getting worse as the months went by, OK for me in air con!
 Not so fun for Mark out in the sun building!.....
Oh we really don't know what to do
????????????????

We finally made a decision......If the mail is not in
 we will stay,
if the mail is in
 we are out of here!!!

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Well back at the post office & the
mail is in!!!!

Exmouth here we come!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beautiful country side from Karratha to Exmouth

The wild flowers all beginning to bloom & a pleasant surprise,
some of the many rivers we crossed have water in them!

We made our first fuel stop
 @
Nanutarra Road House
we are now about 200 klms from Exmouth

Oh no.....I just heard mark blurt out all these expletive's!!
Followed by bloody hell, diesel is $1.90 per litre that just rose
30 cents since Karratha!!!
As we had such a late start to this trip & the time is nearly 4pm
it was time to find somewhere to camp for the night?
Seriously how could we live now days,
with out the
camps books??
Down the road about 70 klms is a good free camp spot!!!!
Too Easy!
Another beautiful piece of Australia!!!
The trip to Exmouth was full of many unusual sights!
From termite mounds all dressed up & looking fancy!! 
Then we passed a whole lot of sheep's backsides, all
head first into a termite mound, trying to cool off!
They looked so funny!!!
Then the most beautiful sight....
 A mother sheep laying in the cool of the termite mound with her
spring lambs close by her side! 
That beautiful vision will be etched in me forever!!! 
There were many more sights to be seen,
sadly i was not quick enough to get photos!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Exmouth
A nice little seaside town, & a great base to explore the
many adventures they have on offer!
We decided to stay a couple of days in Exmouth,
so as to get ourselves organised for our trip out to
Cape Range National Park
We plan on staying there for a few days or more!
This was recommended to us by a guy back at Lake Argyle
A must do!!!
We cant wait to snorkel
Ningaloo Reef!!
Hahaha!
I haven't snorkeled since i was a kid back in the 1960's
& that was only in our
Clark Rubber Above Ground Pool!!!!
Mark just said he was probably in his teens the last time he did it!!!
This will be good!!!
We are excited!!!!
Our first afternoon in Exmouth
we were greeted by these beautiful
 Corella's
As i was walking into the van, Mark said to me look at your feet behind you,
 there sat this beautiful wild bird, so of course i went inside & got her a biscuit!

Sure enough along came all her friends!!!!
Next morn we were up & atem about 4.30 am, had a cuppa & hooked up the van!
We were told, so as to get a site in the park,
you need to be there early
as it is first in priority!
 When one leaves they let one in!
We arrived at the entrance to Cape Range about 5.30am
 we were about 6th in line!
Some of the people we spoke to were telling us they had friends
who were turned away yesterday!
Oh that is not good!!

 Here's hoping we get in???


Brecky on the road!!!
Well that's good we are in...Now we just need to find the
campground, we were allocated!

There are many camp sites, all of them have a host, who is like a
caretaker of that particular spot!
Meesa camp ground was where we were put!
Our neighbours were a nice bunch of people!...Problem though the wind was blowing a gale & we were right in it's path!
Not comfortable!!

We unpacked & went for a drive!
We checked out some of the other camp spots & saw this beautiful one
backing right on the water!
We moved there the next morn!


 
Now that is a backyard!!!!!!





Even comes complete with our own beautiful pets!!!

Good luck my husband......
  You know your gonna need it!!!!


A Room with a View!

This is the life!!!

Okay enough of this lazing around stuff!!!
Its time to get up close & personal with the marine kind!!!

With snorkel gear, noodles, underwater camera 
& our cozzies on, we hit the water!!
As we left the car & headed down to the beach
 we passed a couple, i asked them....
So was that good??
He says.... Pretty Good!
She says...Oh no it was way better than
Pretty Good!!!!

Wow here we go, we cant wait!!!!

Wow!
How do i describe that....
 Unreal, Magical, Exhilarating, Breathtaking, Fun filled, Amazing
FANTASTIC!!!!! 
To be swimming along side so many different beautiful fish
was simply amazing!
Funny they don't even worry about us!
They must just think we are a big one of them!
Mark went out further than me, he saw a shark about
3ft long & he could hear the bigger fish crunching on the coral!
I was happy to stay closer to the shore,
 being the big sook that i am!!




Mark just said that this may be the
highlight of our trip, for him so far!
Wow.....
That is a statement, he has always held
Adel's Grove / Lawn Hill as his highlight!!
I agreed it was fantastic & the whole atmosphere of this place is
unreal!
It feels different, it's like we are on holidays!!
Hahaha...That is funny!
I mean real holidays, like
lazing , swimming, snorkeling!
Ahhh Whatever...
This is
Tooooo Good!!
 How lucky are we Aussies to have all this at our
back door!!!

The Beautiful Wonders of Nature!!!

Back home & we are happy!!
 The wind here seems less than back at our first camp spot!
Yep we can handle this!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Next day we stayed home, pottered around, went for a walk along the beach, watched turtles for ever so long bopping up and down & playing!
Back home, i made
yummo fish & chips for lunch!



We bought some Mangrove Jack
 from the
Pristine Waters of
Exmouth at the
Big Prawn Fish Co-op!!


                              After lunch i was gazing out to the ocean hoping
to spot a whale on their migration south.
Well blow me down right on cue, there she was!

OMG...
How big are they???
 She is about 2klms out & so visible!
I ran and grabbed the noccies, i let out this loud scream,
as i could not believe my eyes!!!

I have never seen anything like this before in the wild!!!

The power they posses is amazing!
Ton's of ton's of weight, as they
ever so gracefully propel themselves out of the water,
almost like a ballerina prancing across the stage!
Until the thud
 when they go back down,
 then once again gracefully with a wave of their tale
 bowing to their audience!

Just makes me smile!!
So Magical!

No wonder the saying goes....
Having a whale of a time!
They just have so much fun!!!

This place is amazing!!

It is now definitely my highlight of our around oz trip!
Pretty hard to beat, i feel from here on in!

Our little weekend escape was drawing to an end
as we watched the sun set over
Beautiful Ningaloo Reef


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Next morn we packed up said our goodbyes to our hosts.

We planned on going down the road and spending another
couple of days @ Coral Bay
Our hosts told us of this great spot to camp which is not commercialised
Warroora Station (pronounced Warra)
14 Mile Beach, there you can camp right on the beach!
Yep that sounds like us!!!!
They also told us to stock up on supplies back in Exmouth
 as Coral Bay prices are very expensive!!!
So that we did!!!


On the road & the wind is bad!
 As it was last night,
I woke with the sound of it howling & seeing as we were only
50 mtrs from the ocean, she was a roaring!!!


Mark just looked at the mileage,
we usually travel about 60klms on a full tank before she starts dropping!
In these winds we only made 40klms!
A truckie back at the petrol station in Exmouth, said the wind
 started in Coral Bay & continued all the way to Exmouth!
We will be travelling into the wind
until reaching our destination!

Not much to look at along this little trip
Plenty of the usual termite mounds & the odd patch of pretty purple wild flowers!
The termite mounds look inactive?
Or they may just be pale because of the ocean & salt!
Compared to red red dirt ones we are use too!!!!

We stopped in at Coral Bay for a look...

Lovely little holiday spot....Right on Ningaloo Reef
Great for
 families, kids & Seagulls!!!


An Ice cream later & back in the truck
 we headed for Warra Station!

Wow Wee!!!
Here is another little piece of paradise for the
Gregory's to enjoy!!

Magic!!!

Me blogging, protected from the howling winds!!

Mark
Sussing the scene!

Sunset over Peaceful Warroora...14 Mile Beach

Sadly
We only spent the night, as the winds were unbearable!
Poor Mark couldn't even throw a line in!!
Shame, especially with the ocean only 20mtrs from our back door!!

Oh well
 never mind we have had a fantastic time!!

Ningaloo Reef
 is a definite must see place in
Australia!!!!

Put it on your bucket list!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today, we are off to Carnarvon!
 Maybe we will pick up work there!
Who knows????





Till next time
Cheers & Enjoy!!!